The Trouble with Texting
by Lieutenant Caine
Summary: Be careful when you press send.


**The Trouble with Texting**

Calleigh's thumbs flew over the keypad of her phone as she walked briskly down the hall toward her lab.

_Nat I nvr did ansr that ? frm lst nite did I LOL_

Several seconds later the phone vibrated in her hand and she grinned as she set her purse and keys on the table beside her computer before she pulled the text message up and read Natalia's reply.

_U sure didn't. ;-)_

_Ggl. We cn talk lunch. BFN._

Calleigh laughed under her breath and quickly deleted the string of text messages from her phone. Considering the content of their conversation, it wouldn't do for anyone to find those texts and read them or both she and Nat could be in a lot of trouble.

Last night had been girl's night out for the two CSI's. They had covered the usual work topics and then veered into more risqué conversation. A charming blush crept up Calleigh's face as she recalled one particular snatch of dialogue. Both women had lost some of their inhibitions after several mojitos and their tongues were looser than usual.

"_So,Cal…do you like them younger, older, or the same age?" _

_Calleigh giggled and then, peering over the rim of her glass she replied in sotto voce, "Oh definitely older, Nat…by several years."_

"_Why older?" Nat had asked, looking surprised at her friend's answer._

"_Because…" Calleigh's voice was slightly slurred and she hiccupped once. "Because the older ones have more experience…if you know what I mean." _

_Natalia blushed and sucked in a deep breath. "You mean older like maybe…" she paused then for a moment and her eyes widened, "you mean like…?"_

"_Yeah, like him…" Calleigh giggled._

"_Calleigh, I can't believe you'd think that about HIM." Nat's voice was a mere squeak._

"_Nat, I didn't SAY that about him, I was just agreeing with your observation that he's older, the way I like a man to be in that situation."_

_Nat swallowed the last of her drink and then fixed Calleigh with a rather confused stare that was meant to be serious but fell far short of that mark._

"_Okay, next question. Gentle or rough?"_

"_Nat!" Calleigh's exclamation was high pitched and earned her the disapproving stare of the bartender who was cleaning up a rather large spill at the other end of the bar. He moved toward them and cleared his throat before speaking to them._

"_Ah, ladies, I think it might be time for you to call it a night." His voice was firm, but not unkind._

"_I think you might be right," Calleigh agreed and fumbled in her purse for the money to pay the tab._

"_Come on, Nat, let's go home before we have to call a cab and have a lot of explaining to do."_

"_Good idea, Cal. I enjoyed the evening. Thanks for the drinks. See you in the morning."_

_The cool night air cleared some of the effects of the alcohol from Calleigh's brain and she laughed softly to herself as she walked toward her silver Mercedes._

_Most definitely rough… she thought._

"Nuff, girl. Time to get serious about work now," she scolded herself quietly as she slit open the evidence envelope and took out a mangled round from the victim in the beach shooting. She attached it to the microscope and peered intently into the eyepieces.

The striations were difficult to see because of the poor condition of the round, but she finally isolated a small section that gave her just enough of a clear view to run a comparison. She typed in the parameters for the search and stood there waiting for the results. After a few seconds, it became obvious that a match was not going to be found quickly.

She moved to the other side of the lab with the intent of pulling the Werlitz file when her phone vibrated in her hip pocket. She pulled it out and looked, expecting something from Ryan or Walter, since they had worked the beach scene together. _Natalia Boa Vista _was the name on the screen.

Calleigh controlled a grin as she pulled up the text from Nat.

_Cm on, Cal. 2 impatient to wt for lnch. R or G?_

For months after that day, Calleigh never understood why she didn't just reply to the message. But for whatever reason, she opened a new text message screen instead, and typed in longhand…_I love it rough. _Quickly she typed in the number and hit send.

Perhaps it was intuition, perhaps it was something else, but instantly Calleigh realized she had NOT sent that text to Natalia. She was not sure who she'd sent it to, but it was most definitely not Nat. Desperately she pulled up the sent message screen and looked at the number. It was three numbers off from Nat's number and she didn't recognize it at all. Half panicked, she scrolled through her address book and was partially relieved to see that the number she had typed in didn't match any of the ones stored in her phone.

_Oh my god, who did I send that to? _

She scurried to Natalia's lab and stepped inside, closing the door behind her before she spoke. "Nat, omigod, I just screwed up." The look on her face let the brunet know she was not kidding.

"What happened?"

"I can't believe I did this. When you sent that last text…I don't know why, but I pulled up a new message screen instead of just replying, then when I typed in the number to send it, I screwed up and it wasn't your number. Problem is, I don't know WHOSE NUMBER IT WAS."

"Oh, no Cal. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have sent that message, should have waited until lunch to ask you that."

"Not your fault, Nat. But hey, do me a favor. Keep your ears open and if you happen to hear anyone talking about it, let me know so I can do some industrial strength damage control, okay?"

"You bet, Cal."

Calleigh left Natalia's lab with a sense of foreboding that followed her the rest of the day. She was jittery and almost jumped out of her skin when the phone in her lab rang shortly before 4:30. She sighed when she saw Horatio's extension number light up on the display.

"This is Calleigh."

"Calleigh I need to see you in my office before you leave today."

"Okay. Anything I need to know before I come up there?"

"No, just something I needed to ask you." His voice sounded a bit strange.

"Okay. I'll check in before I clock out."

"Thanks, Calleigh. I'll see you in a few minutes."

A devilish little thought popped up in her mind and it sent her hand scrabbling into her back pocket to fish out her phone. She pulled up the address list for the third time that day and scrolled down to Horatio's number. It was not a match. Relief flooded through her and she closed the phone once more and slid it back into her pocket before shrugging out of her lab coat.

At the door of his office, she stopped and then knocked quietly.

"Come in, Calleigh," he called.

She stepped in to find him standing there with his back to the door, his head bent and his hands on his hips in his typical stance. When he turned around to face her, he had an odd look on his face.

Stepping toward her he held out his hand and said quietly, "Calleigh do you know what this is?"

She looked and saw a cell phone lying in the palm of his hand. It was not the standard cell phone that all the CSI's carried on the company plan, and she was puzzled as to why he was asking her if she recognized what was obviously a phone. Still she answered cautiously,

"It's a phone."

"It's not just a phone, Calleigh. It's _my personal phone."_

The words sent a sinking feeling curling into the pit of Calleigh's stomach. The feeling increased as Horatio kept talking.

"I know I gave everyone my personal number for emergencies, but I never expected to get personal texts on it…"

"Oh, my god…Horatio…" her voice disappeared into a stunned whisper as realization hit her with devastating effect.

At that moment, Calleigh would have welcomed a CAT-5 hurricane, an F-5 tornado, an earthquake, or anything that would have whisked her away from the look in Horatio's eyes.

She dropped her gaze to the floor and seemed intent on staring a hole through the carpet until she felt him step closer and stop just in front of her.

"Calleigh that text was not intended for me was it?" He asked sternly.

Embarrassment crashed through her in waves, sending vibrant color rushing into her face.

"Oh god, Horatio I'm sorry…I didn't mean…I…" she stammered and failed miserably to utter an intelligent sentence. She forced herself to raise her eyes to his and was stunned to see the glimmer of a smile hovering in those blue depths.

"Calleigh…" he growled in a voice that sent shivers of a different sort racing along her senses, "Calleigh…sometimes…"

Then in one seemingly lightning swift motion, he grabbed one of her wrists and twisted it behind her back firmly. The other hand hooked itself behind her neck and jerked her toward him. She landed firmly against his chest. Heat of another origin flared and she gasped in a startled breath just before his lips crashed down on hers. He took command with a rough kiss, demanding a response that she couldn't have withheld to save her soul.

Instinctively she arched her body closer to his, absorbing the heat of his lean frame and radiating it back to him in the form of fiery arousal.

Horatio plundered her mouth, probing apart her lips and spearing his tongue in deeply in ragged caresses that left Calleigh trembling at the forceful way he was handling her. The hand at her neck moved then to grasp a handful of the golden silk of her hair and tug her head back sharply, exposing the tender expanse of her neck. His lips left hers to nip and bite his way all across the soft skin, leaving tiny red marks that gave mute testimony to his obvious enjoyment of rough pleasure. Desire jolted through her body with each sharp caress of his teeth and Calleigh moaned. He continued his fierce caresses, at length freeing her hand so his own were free to wander over her body, manhandling her in a way that sent need flooding her senses.

Just when Calleigh's mind was on the brink of shutting down to all but the ecstasy of his savage touch, she felt him pull back from her roughly. The cessation of his forceful lovemaking left her weak, and almost unable to stand unassisted. With a groan at the effort required, she opened her eyes to find him glaring down at her possessively. She was surprised when he began forcing her to walk backwards away from the door toward the other side of the room. His arms kept hers pinned to her side and she had all she could do to keep from stumbling.

"Horatio?" she managed to stammer

"I like it rough too, Calleigh," he growled just before he toppled her backwards onto the couch and proceeded to show her just how rough he enjoyed it.

The next morning at work, Calleigh busied herself in the break room making coffee for the team. She loved the early morning hours before the bustle of the day began and she could have a few moments to herself. Hearing the door open behind her she unconsciously tugged the collar of her shirt a bit higher and turned to face the intruder who had interrupted the quiet.

"Morning, Cal." Nat said cheerfully as she reached for a clean coffee cup out of the cabinet. "You're here early. I would have thought that…" her words dried up like a faucet turned off when her sharp eyes fell on Calleigh's neck. Several tiny bruises marred the creamy skin and Calleigh blushed at the intense scrutiny her friend leveled at her.

"Calleigh?" she whispered incredulously, " Calleigh what happened?"

For a moment Calleigh closed her eyes, savoring the memory of Horatio's hands and mouth as they had roughly caressed and commanded her body into levels of pleasure she'd only dreamed about in her most tightly guarded fantasies.

When she opened her eyes again, Natalia was watching her thoughtfully.

"Does this have something to do with that missing text, Cal?"

The look on Calleigh's face gave Natalia all the answer she needed.

"Omigod, Cal, who did you send it to?"

Calleigh turned to leave the break room but stopped at the door and turned back to look at her friend. There was no way she was going to tell Natalia that the provocative text had ended up in the hands of their boss.

"Let's just say that it went to a personal cell phone Nat, and oh my, did I ever learn my lesson."

With that, Calleigh breezed out of the break room, leaving Natalia to wonder just exactly who had received that text.

Three days later, during the weekly staff meeting, Horatio began the meeting with the topic of "texting during work hours".

"It has come to my personal attention that there have been some of you who have been sending and receiving texts of a highly personal nature during work hours…"

Nat suddenly couldn't breathe. Her eyes went wide and she risked a glance across the table at Calleigh. Green eyes met brown ones and flashed a wicked wink. Then Calleigh scribbled something on the corner of her note pad and tore it off, putting it in her pocket.

The rest of the meeting passed in a blur for Natalia since her mind kept painting vivid images of Calleigh and their boss in a heated embrace. When Horatio finally dismissed them, Natalia hurried to catch up to her friend.

"Calleigh, oh my god, did you send that to Horatio?"

Calleigh said nothing. She simply smiled and placed the folded scrap of paper into Natalia's hand and then left without a word.

Natalia stood there for a moment watching Calleigh's disappearing back before she quickly unfolded the small piece of paper. There, in Calleigh's unmistakable scrawl were the following words.

_He likes it rough too. _


End file.
